Unless it's 2020, then saying "It doesn't smell like anything here" is concerning...
86Hmm, why does my coffee smell like boiled water?
An actual thought I had before the penny dropped
22
“this doesn’t taste of anything” a disparaging remark
“I can’t feel anything” rather alarming at times
41"I'm not touching anything at the moment" you're either a master of stating the obvious, or you've just made everyone in that room very fucking uncomfortable
17I can't feel anything. That's what she said :(
3
Image Transcription: Tumblr
sadclowncentral
weird how no one ever comments on the absence of smells unprompted. the nose just isn't a topic of conversation unless it's urgent huh
sadclowncentral
"it's dark in here" normal regular observation
"finally some quiet" relatable exclamation
"doesn't smell like anything in here" absolutely deranged sentence
^I'm a human volunteer transcribing posts in a format compatible with screen readers, for blind and visually impaired users!^
27Actual chad human volunteer 💪
4Ah! You're the first person I've seen doing transcriptions on Lemmy, this has made my day. Do you know if there's a community where people who transcribe can coordinate, like there was at resist? I was hoping to get into the transcription stuff to help build community here and I know the subreddit had loads of resources and templates and the like.
3least community-minded slrpnk.net user
1There's a discord linked on the subreddit where most of our communication happens
1
I'm on team nose!
I always say clean smells of nothing. Not chemicals, not lemon. If it's clean, it should smell of nothing.
20"It's dark in here" Said when the room is expected to be lighter than usual.
"Finally some quiet" said when there was a noise that is now gone.
"Doesn't smell like anything in here" Said when a smell was expected but is not found.
People do say it, this meme is weird.
19People do say it, this meme is weird.
We already concluded that Lemmy will upbean anything, not surprised this meme is popular.
9On the corner hand I unsubbed from the meme Reddit because it was horrible cringe. This meme doesn't make sense (don't really think it even qualifies as a meme), but it's at least bearable and I understand the joke it's attempting to make.
3
"I swear I left a dead body somewhere here three days ago. Why can't I smell it?"
2Also not smelling is neutral while the other two aren't. Nobody said "there is an appropriate amount of light in here" or "there's an expected amount of background noise".
Dark and quiet are the extreme ends of the spectrum. I think smelling bad and good are the ends of the spectrum for smells, although smell is much more multi dimensional, but no smell is neutral.
0In the quiet sentence it is implied that it was loud enough before for the commenter to appreciate the quiet.
The smell equivalent would be "it finally doesn't stink anymore" or something like that, and it doesn't sound weird at all.
3
I think it's about how we calibrate our expectations relative to the default. I do think there is something different about smell.
For example, if I wake up one morning, my implicit expectation is for it to be reasonably light because of the morning sun, and I'd expect to hear some low level noise because I live in the city. The other day, I woke up and I noticed it was darker than usual because of terrible weather. Recently, I also noticed it's much quieter than usual near where I live, because it's a student town and many have gone home for Summer. I didn't immediately notice, but I had a sense of uneasiness until I consciously registered this, because I had a subconscious sense of what's normal.
I can't imagine what waking up and there being less smell than usual would be like. For example, if someone came in and tidied up while I was asleep, without waking me. I'd notice it if there was a particularly strong smell when I went to sleep, because as you highlight, people do comment when an expected smell is not to be found. However, because of how we acclimatise to scents, the normal level of smelliness of an environment is often undetectable, so I don't think people would generally notice a subtraction of a background smell.
It makes sense in the context of human perception though, our olfactory system is underdeveloped compared to many other animals because we don't use it much, relatively
-1
This hits really hard for someone that experienced multiple years of anosmia.
Somebody would say something smells bad, and it really bothered me that I couldn't smell it.
Then when I started regaining a sense of smeel (post surgery) the smells I was able to pick up were always bad. The first time I could smell nice things like cooking, or perfume, I was elated.
Going from, I ate meat that was off because I couldn't smell it was off or really taste it, to being able to smell cooking was amazing. I will never take the sense of smell for granted ever again.
17That sounds really distressing, I'm glad that you got to experience things coming back.
I struggled during COVID because of how my sense of smell changed. I could still smell stuff, but some things were different. My body odour, for example, smelled different. At first I thought that illness was causing funky swear smell, and then I thought it was poor hygiene for an extended period making me smell extra funky (my best friend died, I was a grief blob for a while), but eventually I realised that it was a perception issue, not a sweat issue (onions also smelled bad).
I hated it because for months afterwards, it felt like I was being haunted by COVID. I can also relate to what you describe, a sort of "epistemological anxiety", where being aware that your perceptions are not to be trusted throws you off balance in many ways.
What's your favourite smell?
4Sorry to hear about your experience and the loss of your friend. That sounds like a pretty rough time.
It's amazing how much we repend on the sense of smell, but when it isn't working it throws everything off.
My favourite smell was being able to once again smell the perfume my wife always wears, Inish. All the memories of how we first met and made a life together just flooded into my brain immediately.
1
"Finally a breath of fresh air" said nobody ever.
13Not for an area that is getting forest fires. Walk into a space that is being properly filtered and you 100% get a breath of fresh air.
2Not for an area that is getting forest fires. Walk into a space that is being properly filtered and you 100% get a breath of fresh air.
0
I feel like it'd be weird because it usually does smell neutral after a time. You notice smells off of your baseline but typically you're just unaware after a while.
I read somewhere it's likely an adaptation to help us notice dangerous smells. You're more successful at avoiding fire or poo (germs) etc when it stands out, which is easier when the baseline is neutral.
13This would be a great cross post with shower thoughts, I actually thought I was there for a minute 😂
11Unlike with darkness or silence I don't think you can ever escape smell. It's all a matter of adaptation to a smell. In your house you don't smell anything sometimes but when you return from a road trip or whatever you suddenly realise you can smell something that you previously became so adapted to that you thought it didn't smell at all.
Simmilar to being at a hospital / dentists and going outside afterwards, suddenly the air doesn't smell like nothing but stinks because you became adapted to the cleaner air inside.9I imagine dogs do
8I feel like this was a dog asking this
3Fun fact about dog's sense of smell!
It's sensitive enough that when their human leaves for work at 8am, the human scent is strong and fresh, but it fades over the course of the day. A dog knows how strong the residual human smell is at 5pm, when the human usually returns from work, so can build a sense of routine from that. Especially cool though is that they can smell the difference between 4pm and 6pm, so this is why dogs are usually super excited when their humans return from routine jobs, it's not just that they hear their friend approaching, they are functionally clock watching. They know when we're running late.)
[Citation needed]
Edit: further reading added: non-academic article https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/22/1139781319/can-dogs-smell-time-just-ask-donut-the-dog#:~:text="So newer%2C more recent odors,is inextricably woven into space.
1
Lemmy smells like beans
7been to places that smell like shit and i can't wait to get out and i'm super glad when i finally get to a place and i'm like "wow it doesn't smell like shit anymore".
7I laughed a nugget. "It kind smells in here, huh?"
2If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose.
2Oh shit! Never thought of it like that
2"Doesn't smell like anything to me"
- Bernard Lowe
1
